Wurzelmania!
News
Older
news items which have appeared in the Wurzelmania! website have
now been archived by year. Feel free to browse...
 Wurzels
Confirmed for Glasto 08 (30 April 2008)
The
Wurzels will be playing on the Avalon Stage at this year's Glastonbury
Festival.
The
line-up for this year's Glastonbury Festival, taking place between
Friday 27th and Sunday 29th of June, has now been announced. As
promised the Wurzels have been awarded a higher profile slot in
the festival, having being promoted from headliners on the Band
Stand to a mid-afternoon slot on the Avalon Stage on the Saturday
(28th).
The
boys are fifth on the bill, which is headlined by The Proclaimers
and also sees Will Young, Alabama 3 and The Handsome Family playing.
The Wurzels follow Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, Bacalao,
Malarchy and One String Loose on stage; which should see them on
stage at about tea-time (timings approximate!). And I'm sure that
the fact they are not headlining the stage will be no chore, as
the band has a second gig booked for the same day in nearby Longleat
Estate!
The
Wurzels, of course, made national headlines for all the wrong reasons
last year when they pulled out of last year's Glastonbury Festival
after being offered a slot on the Band Stand (the same stage they
had played on at their Glasto debut in 2000). At the time, organiser
Emily Eavis promised the band a better slot in 2008, and seems to
have lived up to her promises.
And
it is not lost for any Wurzels fans who have not got their Glastonbury
tickets yet. The anticipated rush for tickets seems to have been
a little over-optimistic, and as a result there are still tickets
available - but get your applications in ASAP as I'm sure the confirmation
of The Wurzels on the bill will mean a last-minute rush for tickets!
Glastonbury
Festival website
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Wurzels
Go Back To School (12th March 2008)
Tommy
Banner and Pete Budd took time out from gigging to visit students
at Churchill Community Foundation School in North Somerset.
Students
studying A-level Product Design at the school had been given a project
as part of their course to design and manufacture items creations
based around songs by Adge Cutler & The Wurzels; and Tommy and
Pete were invited to come along and see what the results were.
The
twelve students had created a range of Wurzelly products - a 'Blackbird'
light which will shortly be migrating to the nearby Thatcher's Cider
farm shop to highlight their Wurzel-Me Cider, a tractor-shaped hen
house that will be donated to nearby Court Farm Country Park in
Banwell, a range of six bar stools that will be donated to pubs
in the local area, and two park benches that will be relocated to
Barrow Gurney and Easton-in-Gordano (both mentioned in Adge's songs).
One student also made a weather vane which is apparently mentioned
in one of the Wurzels songs, but I can't place which!
Their
visit included a guided tour of the school's high quality Performing
Arts department. Anyone who 'never went to school' doesn't know
what they were missing! Churchill Community Foundation School is
renowned for its support for live music, and is a specialist school
for the performing arts. It has specialist dedicated teaching and
technical performing arts staff, and plenty of top qualities facilties
including a 300-capacity theatre, a state-of-the-art recording studio,
a drama studio and rehearsal room, and new dance studio, music and
practice rooms and a music technology suite. And to show the benefits
of studying live music, Tommy and Pete serenaded staff, students
and visiting media with a couple of songs.
Churchill
Community Foundation School website
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 Wurzels
Launch New Website (27th February 2008)
The
Wurzels have launched their brand new official website Wurzelworld.
The website was launched on 27th February and contains everything
that an official band website should have - band news, gig dates,
band biogs, discography, gallery, shop, and a forum. There is also
a mailing list for you to sign up to get the latest news from Wurzelworld
- sign up now and you get a chance to win a signed copy of the Mervyn
Hancocks book, 'Wurzels World'.
The
website announces that it has recently ‘rediscovered’
the two hand-written letters by Adge Cutler that are stored in the
archives of the Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office in Trowbridge.
See the Wurzelmania! news
archive for 2005 for more information about these letters, and
how to get a look at them yourselves.
New
Wurzels website
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 The
Wurzels Confirmed for Rock'N'Roots Festival (20th February 2008)
The Wurzels will be playing at the Rock'N'Roots Festival in Herefordshire
this August. Great family days out with three music tents, stalls,
craft displays, exotic foods, juggling schools and wine bar set
amongst the beautiful green fields of picturesque Herefordshire.
This
new eclectic festival is buried in the heart of ciderland, showcasing
folk, blues and rock'n'roots for all ages. Two Big Top marquees
and an outdoor stage will be hosting the music over the bank holiday
weekend. Marillion and USA legendary axe man Steve Cropper, alongside
reformed blues rockers Bad Company and Curved Air, will be featuring
amongst the hefty blues and folk roots line up.
The
Wurzels are booked to play on the bank holiday Monday 25th
August and will join Bad Company, blues guitar maestro Walter Trout
and the Radicals, Neck, Stan Webb's Chickenshack, Michael Chapman,
3 Daft Monkeys, Cheryl Beer.
The Rock'n'Roots Festival takes place at Rye Meadows, Much Marcle,
near Ledbury, Herefordshire HR8 2NL. Tickets
go on sale from 8th April 2008 at www.rocknroots.co.uk
(website not live yet!). Great family days out with three music
tents, stalls, craft displays, exotic foods, juggling schools and
wine bar set amongst the beautiful green fields of picturesque Herefordshire.
Check
the official The
Rock'n'Roots Festival for more information (official website
currently down - check Ents24
for full line-up).
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 Wurzels
To Headline Buckland Beer Festival 2008 (11th February 2008)
The Wurzels have been confirmed as headliners at the 2008 Buckland
Beer Festival on Saturday 16th August.
Landlord
and festival promoter Jeremy Westcott (pictured right with The Wurzels
in preparation for the 2008 festival) confirmed that The Wurzels
will be playing on Saturday evening with live music all day building
up to their show.
The
Buckland Beer Festival takes place at the Buckland Showground, behind
the Bell Inn in Buckland Dinham (on the A362 midway between Frome
and Radstock). The festival takes place over three days - Friday
being the annual Blues & Rock Evening, live music all Saturday
culminating in The Wurzels, and Sunday being the annual Pirate Festival
& Village Day. Jeremy promises over 50 beers, lagers, ciders
and wines.
Tickets
cost £20.00 in advance for the weekend, £15.00 in advance
for Saturday, £10.00 in advance for Friday; Sunday is free
to everyone. Tickets include souvenier glass and first drink free
(exc. Sunday!). Onsite camping costs £5.00 per pitch per night
(motorhome, caravan or tent); limited to 250 so booking in advance
is recommended!
Buy
Your Tickets Here
Check
the official Buckland
Beer Festival website for more information.
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 John
'Jai' Howe Passed Away (6th February 2008)
It
is with great sadness that we report the death of former Wurzels
bass player Jai Howe.
John
'Jai' Howe was one of those rarities - a two-times Wurzels. He first
joined the band in the mid-1980s replacing Tony Baylis the band's
long-time bass player. Although he left not long after, he returned
towards the end of 2002 when he replaced Dave Wintour. Interviewed
in 2004 for Mervyn Hancock's book Wurzels World, Jai (then
57) hoped that this was a job that would last him for the rest of
his life. Sadly that wasn't to be, and in the autum of 2006 he left
the band for a second time, due to ill health.
That
illness turned out to be inoperable brain cancer, and sadly on Monday,
4th of February 2008, John 'Jai' Howe died surrounded by close friends
and family. Our thoughts go out to his wife Susanne and family.
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 Wurzels
To Play Camp Bestival 2008 (4th January 2008)
The Wurzels have been added to the 2008 Camp Bestival line-up along
with the likes of headliners The Flaming Lips and Chuck Berry, Suzanne
Vega, Billy Bragg, Kid Creole & the Coconuts and The Cuban Brothers.
Camp
Bestival takes place at Lulworth Castle, Dorset on the weekend of
18th to 20th July 2008; at this time, we have no idea which day
The Wurzels are playing; but as you can only buy a weekend ticket,
it hardly matters!
Tickets
cost £120 for adult weekend tickets; £60 for children
(13-15), free for the under 15s; booking fees may apply. All children
under 16 must be acompanied by a paying adult. Tickets include free
camping for the weekend; Campervan Tickets are £50.00 per
vehicle.
Buy
Your Tickets Here
The
Camp Bestival press release reads: "But remember Camp Bestival's
not just about the music - for us it's the first festival to fully
cater for people who love the whole camping experience, tailored
for families, kids of all ages and folk who are just as happy lolling
about in their own camp whiling away lazy afternoons or getting
stuck into one of the many options for fun and entertainment - from
Come Dancing dance classes, knocking up a scarf in the world's first
Knitting Tent, storytelling around campfires or performing your
own Spoken Word on one of our open stages."
Check
the official Camp
Bestival website for more information.
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